PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- For the second straight year, Yianni Diakomihalis will be center stage at the national championship at 141 pounds, but this time he'll have some company. Diakomihalis and classmate Max Dean will wrestle for national titles on Saturday night and lead a parade of four All-Americans into PPG Paints Arena at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship. Cornell sits sixth in the team race entering the final day with 52 points, just two behind fifth-place Missouri.

On a night where Diakomihalis clinched a chance to become just the fifth multiple-time NCAA champion in Cornell history, it was his fellow sophomore that stole the show. Dean used a takedown with 10 seconds to wrestle and a mat return to knock off top-seeded Myles Martin of Ohio State at 184 pounds, putting him into his first national final. A Dean in a Big Red singlet will now be in the finals at 184 pounds for the fourth time in five seasons, with his brother and current assistant coach Gabe a three-time finalist and two-time champion. Dean avenged two regular season losses to Martin, who outscored him 30-13 in two previous matches this year. Dean will get a familiar foe in the finals - Northern Iowa's Drew Foster. The two have met four times with Dean holding a 3-1 advantage, including a 6-5 victory by the Big Red grappler in a mid-December dual in Iowa.

Diakomihalis also had a memorable match, earning a 6-5 victory over Jaydin Eierman of Missouri in the semifinals for the second consecutive year to reach the championship. The only wrestler to beat Diakomihalis dating back to his freshman year in high school, Eierman had the match tied at 4-4 before the Big Red sophomore caught an ankle and earned the go-ahead takedown with under 30 seconds remaining when Eierman remained in danger after a count for an technical takedown. Eierman escaped as time expired, but it was too little, too late.

Freshman Vitali Arujau and senior Ben Honis both became first-time All-Americans with wins in the blood round. Arujau captured a dominant 11-3 major decision over N.C. State's Sean Fausz, then took down No. 4 Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State 8-5 on the strength of a four-point move in the third period and more than two minutes of accumulated riding time. He'll do no worse than sixth place and could finish as high as third depending on the result of his consolation semifinal against second-seeded Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State.

Honis took a different path after losing his first match, going 4-0 in the back draw to battle back to a spot on the podium. The senior built a 6-1 lead over Cal Poly's Thomas Lane and held on for an 8-5 victory. Though he dropped his second match of the session, a 7-5 decision against Iowa State's Willie Miklus, he will wrestle for seventh place against No. 5 Jacob Warner of Iowa on Saturday morning.

After going 5-1 during the session, Cornell jumped from 10th to sixth in the team standings and qualified a finalist for the 12th consecutive year. At least three Cornellians have reached the podium for 17 consecutive years.

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PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Sophomores Yianni Diakomihalis (141) and Max Dean (184) advanced to the national semifinals and two teammates will wrestle Friday night to join them As All-Americans as the Big Red vaulted into the top 10 of the team race after Session III at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship at PPG Paints Arena. Cornell is tied with Nebraska and Virginia Tech with 26.5 team points.

Diakomihalis controlled a 5-1 quarterfinal win over Oklahoma's Dom Demas to set up an NCAA semifinal rematch with Missouri's Jaydin Eierman, the only grappler to hand Diakomihalis a college loss. In fact, the Big Red sophomore has won 274 of his last 275 matches dating back to high school, with the lone loss coming to Eierman during a dual meet in December of 2017. He has topped the Tiger twice since - 6-4 in sudden victory in last season's NCAA semifinal and 3-1 in a dual meet this season.

The two-time Ivy League Wrestler of the Year collected his second All-America honor in the win over Demas. The sophomore earned takedowns in the final 10 seconds in both the first and second periods, then escaped in the third to make it 5-1. Demas was on the attack in the third, but never threatened to score as Diakomihalis won his 45th straight match, a mark that is tied for the third-longest in school history with Gabe Dean. 

Dean, now an assistant coach, was in his brother Max's corner for a dominant 6-0 victory over No. 13 Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt to garner his second All-America honor and first trip to the national semis. Just like Diakomihalis a few minutes earlier, Dean picked up a last-second takedown in the first to take control of the match. The Pitt wrestler chose bottom in the second and never escaped, with Dean quickly getting up to start the third to build his lead to 3-0. Bonaccorsi got deep in on a single leg, but Dean was able to scurry around him for two to extend the lead to 5-0 after a long battle and looked for the turn and a major. The sophomore wasn't able to get the tilt, but had plenty on the board to earn the 6-0 victory. 

After falling in the quarterfinals to No. 1 Bo Nickal of Penn State, Dean will have another chance at a top seed when he faces Ohio State's Myles Martin in the semis.

Freshman Vitali Arujau took his shot at the top seed at 125 pounds, but  Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera came away with a 6-2 victory, earning the only two takedowns of the match. It was just 3-2 in the third after Arujau escaped from the bottom, but Rivera picked up a second takedown to close out the win. Arujau will need to win one match in the consolation bracket to claim All-America honors as a freshman. He'll face NC State's 14th-seeded Sean Fausz in Friday evening's blood round.

Senior Ben Honis will join Arujau in wrestling for All-America honors on Friday night, as he'll meet No. 21 Thomas Lane of Cal Poly for a spot on the podium. Honis earned a takedown with nine seconds left in sudden victory to top No. 7 Jay Aiello of Virginia in the consolation second round, then defeated Ethan Laird of Rider 10-5 to set up his battle with Lane. 

Juniors Chas Tucker and Brandon Womack had their seasons come to a close in the back draw. Tucker fell to Penn State's No. 10 seed Roman Bravo-Young 6-3 in the consolation second round at 133 pounds, while Womack edged out No. 18 seed Andrew Morgan of Campbell before losing an 11-7 decision to Minnesota's Devin Skatzka at 174.

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125 - Vitali Arujau
First Round: #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) won by major decision over #25 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State), 12-2
Second Round: #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) won by major decision over #9 RayVon Foley (Michigan State), 12-2
Quarterfinal: #1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) won by decision over #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell), 6-2
Consolation Fourth Round: #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) won by major decision over #14 Sean Fausz (NC State), 11-3
Consolation Quarterfinal: #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) won by decision over #4 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State), 8-5
Consolation Semifinal: #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) won by decision over #2 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State), 5-1
Consolation Final: #1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) won by decision over #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell), 8-3 

133 - Chas Tucker
First Round: #24 DJ Fehlman (Lock Haven) won by decision over #9 Chas Tucker (Cornell), 7-2
Consolation First Round: #9 Chas Tucker (Cornell) won by decision over #25 Derek Spann (Buffalo), 5-3
Consolation Second Round: #10 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) won by decision over #9 Chas Tucker (Cornell), 6-3

141 - Yianni Diakomihalis
First Round: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) won by decision over #33 Pete Lipari (Rutgers), 10-5
Second Round: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) won by decision over #16 Chad Red (Nebraska), 7-3
Quarterfinal: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) won by decision over #9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma), 5-1
Semifinal: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) won by decision over #5 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri), 6-5
Final:  #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. #2 Joey McKenna (Ohio State)

174 - Brandon Womack
First Round: #16 Brandon Womack (Cornell) won by decision over #17 Neal Richards (VMI), 11-10 (tb2)
Second Round: #1 Mark Hall (Penn State) won by decision over #16 Brandon Womack (Cornell), 8-3
Consolation Second Round: #16 Brandon Womack (Cornell) won by decision over #18 Andrew Morgan (Campbell), 9-5
Consolation Third Round: #9 Devin Skatzka (Minnesota) won by decision over #16 Brandon Womack (Cornell), 11-7

184 - Max Dean
First Round: #5 Max Dean (Cornell) won by major decision over #28 Noah Stewart (Army West Point), 13-2
Second Round: #5 Max Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #12 Cash Wilcke (Iowa), 6-4 (sv1)
Quarterfinal: #5 Max Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt), 6-0
Semifinal: #5 Max Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #1 Myles Martin (Ohio State), 5-4
Final: #5 Max Dean (Cornell) vs. #6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

197 - Ben Honis
First Round: #24 Jake Jakobsen (Lehigh) won by decision over #9 Ben Honis (Cornell), 8-5
Consolation First Round: #9 Ben Honis (Cornell) won by decision over #25 Greg Bulsak (Clarion), 8-6
Consolation Second Round: #9 Ben Honis (Cornell) won by decision over #7 Jay Aiello (Virginia), 9-7 (sv1)
Consolation Third Round: #9 Ben Honis (Cornell) won by decision over #32 Ethan Laird (Rider), 10-5
Consolation Fourth Round: #9 Ben Honis (Cornell) won by decision over #21 Thomas Lane (Cal Poly), 8-5
Consolation Quarterfinal: #6 Willie Miklus (Iowa State) won by decision over #9 Ben Honis (Cornell), 7-5
Seventh Place Match: #5 Jacob Warner (Iowa) won by decision over #9 Ben Honis (Cornell), 8-4 

285 - Jeramy Sweany
First Round: #10 Youssif Hemida (Maryland) won by decision over #23 Jeramy Sweany (Cornell), 7-1
Consolation First Round: #26 Ian Butterbrodt (Brown) won by decision over  #23 Jeramy Sweany (Cornell), 12-7